Warm Up

Warm Up: Meeting Mishaps and Faux Pas

This activity will have students first recalling what makes meetings NOT work, so as to go ahead later on and make sure to not implement those steps when planning a meeting.

Suggested time: 15-20 minutes

Have people take a few moments to think to themselves and jot down their responses to the following prompts:

  • Recall one of the worst meetings you ever went to. What, specifically, made it so horrible?
  • Recall a meeting you have facilitated that didn’t go as well as you hoped; what were some of the things that you did that didn’t work?
  • Imagine a meeting you will be facilitating soon that you are concerned about; what specifically are the sticky points you are worried about?

After people have had time to think of their responses, get the group to focus. On a flip chart paper centrally located, write “Meeting Mishaps.” Now, ask participants to share their insights about the ineffective meetings. For example, you might start by sharing one like “no one knew why they were there,” “started an hour late,” or “no facilitator – people fought the entire time.”

Get a number of the group’s ideas up there. Some people may share some brief stories, but also make sure you guide people to summarize the issue they encountered.

Then, shift the group to the second question, writing “Facilitator’s Faux Pas” on the top of another sheet of flip chart paper. Again, invite some people to share their insights on their experiences or imagined challenges. For example, you might start by sharing one of your own experiences and insights, such as “Didn’t have the right people at the meeting to make the decision – frustrated participants,” or “Aimless meeting – didn’t have a plan.”

The main purpose of this warm up is to get people thinking about the things that make meetings go well or badly. As people have noted these not-so-effective things, you can either lead them into another brainstorm of effective elements of meetings or pull them out of the comments, noting them such as:

  • Effective meetings = good planning
  • People who are there need to be there and people who need to be there are there
  • Clear purpose
  • Activities that are appropriate to the purpose
  • Start and end on time